Photo-a-Day - June: Day 4: Close-Up

Photo-a-Day - June:  Day 4: Close-Up

From the top of her hair to the base of her neck, this beautiful woman's head is only a 1" x 3/4" part of a 16" x 20" needlepoint piece I bought in an antique store about 20 years ago.  There is no date, but it is in the original frame and is judged to be from the late 1800s.

 For those who do needlepoint, it will make sense when I say the piece was done on 10/20 penelope canvas.  However, the stitch artist, for indeed that's what person was, overlayed the hands, faces, legs of the gentleman, and feet in possibly a 24 canvas.  That canvas when then cut out for the eyes we are stitched behind the face in a very fine silk gauze, to give them dimension, and include a single stitch of white to bring them to life.  Her lips are 8 stitches, but 3 colors; her eyebrows and lashes are backstitched. 

Although I do needlepoint myself, when I saw this piece, along with another I have from 1884, I knew this was not something I would ever do myself.  However, I also felt both pieces belonged in the home of a stitcher as someone who would appreciate the level of work and remarkable artistry involved.